HAYAO Miyazaki, the renowned Japanese animator, won his second Oscar on Sunday with “The Boy and the Heron” — his latest work in a decade, and perhaps his last.
The film managed to beat strong competitors such as “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” Disney’s “Elemental,” Netflix’s “Nimona” and the dialogue-free “Robot Dreams.” Unfortunately, Miyazaki was not present in Los Angeles to receive the award.
The film, which tells the story of a boy who moves to the countryside during World War II, won best animated feature, the same award Miyazaki won in 2003 for “Spirited Away.”
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Like other Ghibli titles, “The Boy and the Heron” presents a visual feast where mysterious creatures and strange characters frolic in a fantastical world.
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After his mother dies in a firebombing attack in Tokyo during World War II, the boy Mahito struggles to accept his new life with his father and pregnant stepmother, who disappeared.
Everything changes when Mahito meets a talking crane and sets off on a journey to an alternate universe shared by the living and the dead.
Its rural setting was “largely created from my memory,” Miyazaki revealed in the Japanese pamphlet for “The Boy and the Heron,” whose original title was translated as “How Do You Live?”
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Miyazaki, 83, also lived in a large house in the countryside during the war. While not intended to be autobiographical, the father character in the film is “very similar to my own father,” he said.
These animators co-founded Studio Ghibli in 1985, building a loyal following with their wildly imaginative depictions of nature and machines. Ghibli characters, such as Totoro, a cute forest creature, and Nausicaa, a warrior princess, are now loved by children and adults all over the world.
“Spirited Away” tells the story of a girl who gets lost in a mystical world where her parents, whom she tried to save, turn into pigs.
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In 2013, Miyazaki announced that he would no longer make feature-length films because he might not maintain his perfectionist work intensity. However, four years later, his company announced that he would make his “last film, considering his age”.
That’s “The Boy and The Heron,” which was released in Japan last July without a trailer or other advertising. Despite this, the film was a success at the Japanese box office and reached number one in North America, where promotion continued as usual.
The voice cast of the English version includes Robert Pattinson as the crane, along with Willem Dafoe, Florence Pugh, Christian Bale, and Mark Hamill. In a documentary aired by NHK, Miyazaki appeared affected by the death of his Ghibli co-founder, Isao Takahata, in 2018. The animation mogul said that the big uncle character in “The Boy and the Heron” was based on Takahata, with whom he shared “love-hate relationship”.
“The truth regarding life is not something that shines, or is true. It includes everything, including the grotesque,” said Miyazaki. “It’s time to create a work by unearthing the hidden things within me.” (AFP/Z-3)
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